The DeLorean Team Builds A Monster

REBROADCAST AIR DATES - Check Local Listings for times

December 27 10 pm and 1 am (December 28) Right after the Hovercraft episode - a Rich W Marathon!

Jan 2 - 10 pm

Jan 3 - 1 am and 2 pm

Jan 19 - 8 pm and 11 pm

Jan 23 - 7 pm

Jan 24 - 2 am

Jan 25 - 3 pm

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That's right - A bunch of DeLorean fanatics (with a few others) are being featured on an episode of Discovery Channel's Monster Garage series, initially aired on Discovery Channel August 25, 2003 ( www.discoverychannel.com ) as part of an episode called "Monsters on the Road - American Monsters". Here's a behind the scenes look. As you can probably tell, we had a blast putting this together.

A special thanks from all of us to Rich, without whose pre-production work with the producers this never would have come together. Rich also gave up a lot of "camera time" to run around getting parts and making arrangements during the taping itself.

No DeLoreans were harmed in the making of this show.

Taped Week ending July 4 2003.

Following is a collection of pictures from the Build Week. There are significant gaps in the picture continuity as the photographers (Rich and Julee) were either out chasing down additional parts (Rich) or working at a real job (Julee), unlike the rest of the crew which worked 18-24 hours a day. Check back later, I may be able to add some more from other sources.

The Build Team Steve, Rich, Marty, Bryan, Dave, Gary (not part of show), Dennis, Eric

Steve - Welder/Fabricator

Rich - Organizer/Designer

Marty - Engineer

Bryan - Machinist/Fabricator

Dave - Mechanic/Electric

Dennis - Welder/Mechanic

Eric - Mechanic/Electric

The Concept:

The Raw Materials:

The kit car before and after painting (the producers suggested that we paint the car before the build, since we would not have the customary 2 weeks between build and drive). It's actually a FiberFab Avenger Kit Car patterned after a GT40. Originally built in the late 1960s, it's positioned on a VW Beetle chassis with a Corvair engine and transmission. Donated by Eric.

The 1979 Bronco as received. Donated by Steve, was used as a "parts car" and had not been licensed in at least 3 years. Before that it was used as a snowplow, which in the Chicago area = rustbucket. Rich drove it into the garage, barely running, no brakes, limited steering. Perfect!

The Garage "BEFORE" picture. Another pic at the end of the article.

The Bronco being inspected just prior to starting. What a POS.

Rolling the kit car into the shop. We learned here that everything "dramatic" would be done 2-3 times for the camera.

We broke up into two crews and had a race to disassemble the cars. The kit car was first,

Then the Bronco.

This oughta run good - NOT. A complete tune-up and paint job was in order. Unlike the real Monster Garage, a $20,000 crate engine did not arrive on our doorstep. We made this one work.

Lights Camera Action - Lenny and Sid setting up the time-lapse camera in the loft

The rollcage was build up (actually cut down) from a unit intended for a Camaro

Here the body was being "whittled to fit" by Steve. The body was set in place and removed several times during the build process

Checking the fit.

Hey - that seat would look GREAT in a DeLorean

No, they're not playing chess, they're designing a suspension.

A good view from above.

Where's Dennis?

X-treme Graphics provided the detail work on the car.

Welding the body on for good.

Wa hoo - this is gonna be great!!

Yes - those are DeLorean springs holding this thing up!

Here too. No DeLoreans were harmed in the making of this Monster Rock Crawler. Here you can also see the fully hydraulic steering. No mechanical linkage at all, powered by the original Ford (actually a NAPA replacement) steering pump.

Bryan and Marty's front suspension design.

It fits! We were afraid that we'd have to take the wheels off to get it out.....

In the street after Marty and Steve pull another all-nighter.

Film and sound crew - the official first-drive thru the door.

They interviewed all of us, here's Marty's wrap-up on the last night.

In the front yard

Uh-oh - after a week of this the neighbors finally complained so we were visited by Officer Billman of the McHenry County Sheriff's department

But officer.........

He was cool though. A tight fit fully armed. It turned out that he is into the four-wheeling sport, and thought this was a good project. He'd never heard of the show.

Rich called on professional DeLorean Transporter Fred Geerdink for the trip to the quarry. Let's go find some rocks!

But then the rains came. Fred ducks under the car. It rained about 2 inches in 15 minutes in the quarry. Then the sun came out and warmed it up to about 95.

The last pristine view of the Rock Crawler. Note the standing water.

The crew - still standing. Rich, Bryan, Dave, Marty, Steve, Dennis, Eric

In spite of what they may have said on TV, it really DID crawl rocks. It was difficult with everything being soaking wet (and the fact that we forgot to let the air back out of the tires - we ran at 50 PSI!). It was also very difficult to see out of this thing.

In all the excitement, not many pictures got taken. This is after Eric's rack-jump and Steve's demo derby run. That finally broke one of the front springs. We also got too much concrete (i.e. wet gravel dust) in the engine so it stopped running.

The garage - after. Time to repaint the floor again.

The "clock" that was run over at the end of the show - signed by the cast members, and re-furbished with a new clock motor, it still hangs on the garage wall.

Also a HUGE thanks to our sponsors and benefactors in this endeavor:

Chicago Outlaw Monster Truck Race Team

Buttrey Rental Services

NAPA Auto Parts (Lyons and Crystal Lake locations)

Lefthander Chassis

Driveshafts Unlimited, Lyons IL

Maaco Auto Body and Sherman Williams Paints

Lockport Steel Fabrication Services

Vulcan Materials

X-treme Graphics

Toyo Tires

KMC Wheels

Sparco Seat and Belt Harnesses

Mack Truck Supply

L.A. Fasteners

Elgin Super Auto Parts

Hartland Cutting Tools, Cary IL

Also a big thanks to the catering services provided by Quizno's and Chicago Street Pizza, both in Algonquin, IL.

Dave Swingle - for the team

August 25, 2003 Updated December 24 2003